The Blithedale Romance | Chapter 21 Summary

Driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand the mystery surrounding Priscilla and Zenobia, Coverdale remembers old Moodie, and his relationship with Priscilla, and determines to seek an interview.  Being "tolerably well acquainted with the old man's haunts", he goes to a saloon which he knows the aged gentleman frequents.  While awaiting Mr. Moodie's appearance, Coverdale peruses the decor of the saloon, which is "fitted up with a good deal of taste".  He notices the "deportment" of his fellow patrons, who, even when slightly inebriated, are still "decorous and thoroughly correct".  He muses that the reason men drink is to recapture the feeling of youth for even just 15 minutes.

After a while, when he had just about despaired of finding Moodie there that night, Coverdale recognizes him sitting behind a screen.  He is "certainly the wretchedest old ghost in the world", but he remembers Coverdale, and greets him cordially.  As he seems disinclined to talk at first, Coverdale offers to share some wine with him, after which Moodie begins to reminisce about his past life.  As he speaks, his demeanor seems to change, and he began to take on "a certain exuberance and elaborateness of...manner".  His communications refer to his past and a better period in his life, and he relates to Coverdale the astonishing narrative that follows.